Religions, organized or not, as they are actually lived and practiced
continue to flourish in the U.S. and around the world. Anthropology
and History, as well as folklore have produced useful theories
and methodologies for understanding religion as it is lived. This
course will sample, critique, and practice approaches to the ethnography
of beliefs and practices and the analysis and interpretation of
the resulting descriptions. All explanatory frameworks will be
considered in terms of their descriptive methodologies, internal
logic, and methods of acquiring and evaluating evidence, and their
means of transmitting explanations. We will emphasize folk religions
in their traditional contexts and in migrant situations.